Capcom has warned that profits for this year will be about half of their initial prediction, and is taking some drastic measures to correct that.

Capcom isn't doing too well this year. Profits for the current financial year will be about half of what was initially forecast, the company has warned. It was quick to point the finger at Western developers, under performing projects, and "not taking advantage of digital markets." Their solution for this is to cut ties with Western developers, and produce more DLC, a move that is sure to rustle a few jimmies, considering Capcom's "questionable" DLC policy.

Also to blame for the profit loss were recent restructuring efforts at the company, an effort to keep up with "drastic changes in the industry's market environment." They also cited the "concentration of AAA titles in the hands of few foreign competitors" and its "delayed response to the shift to digital media in the home videogames business," as problems to be addressed.

The most worrying thing that came out of this press release was the fact that Capcom asserted that "decline in quality of titles outsourced to overseas developers" has forced it to alter its business strategy: it wants to shift Western developers to internal R&D and "increase post-release DLC." Earlier this year, Capcom rebooted its Devil May Cry franchise with DMC: Devil may Cry, which was developed by UK studio Ninja Theory. While getting generally favorable reviews, the game ultimately failed to reach sales expectations.

Lastly, Capcom stated that "work in progress in game software" has been "strictly re-evaluated for business restructuring". This is business speak for "games that we think won't sell well, or don't have the potential for post-release DLC, we are going to cancel."

Capcom recently tapped American developer WayForward to develop its DuckTales remake. Let's hope that this one manages to avoid the chopping block!

So in other words, if a megaman game were to come out, we'll have to pay $15 USD to unlock the right to use a different mega-buster configuration and a third of the bosses are going to be locked behind a pay wall. Speaking of which, this company does realize the economy in general hasn't been too good lately and that while cutting back the number of games being developed is a good idea, throwing more DLC into the picture might ruffle a few feathers?

Oh capcom, how amusing that you want to "cut ties with the west". Given that you have a habit of not releasing games in the west this doesn't surprise me. You pissed fans off with DmC's reboot (not me i never liked DmC to begin with) and then wonder why it didnt reach its target. When the west isnt part of your target audience,you shouldn't expect them to listen to you. I feel bad for the devs that are gonna get less work though.But yea sell some more DLC that will get the public to like you again. They sure loved finding out that characters were already content complete on street fighter x tekken.

You have to wonder what these publishers actually inside their skull because it certainly isn't brains. "Since we began our DLC strategy we only met 50% of our sales estimates, we must invest even more into the DLC strategy to correct this!"

How can they be blind to it? People are getting fed up of this and Capcom are one of the worst for DLC shenanigans, maybe even the worst and now they are paying for it through customer dissatisfaction.

Steven Bogos:Earlier this year, Capcom rebooted its Devil May Cry franchise with DMC: Devil may Cry, which was developed by UK studio Ninja Theory. While getting generally favorable reviews, the game ultimately failed to reach sales expectations.

Can't imagine why. Might have had something to do with the fact that the game was built in such a way as to be a deliberate "fuck you" to the original fans of the franchise, even going so far as to take a direct stab at them with the now-infamous "white wig" scene.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you focused more on making a political statement (as the clearly-not-Bill-O'Reilly monster boss working for definitely-not-Fox-News illustrates rather well) than, ya know, making a good game.

Maybe it has something to do with your policy of on-disc DLC in several games.

Or the fact that you openly killed a beloved franchise because you claim that it "didn't have enough backing" even though that's clearly a lie.

Maybe, just maybe, if you weren't being total, thorough, complete dicks about everything and anything, people would buy your games. Just maybe.

Good. Cut ties with the West completely. Don't let the door hit your ass too hard on the way out. I'm sick of seeing your tripe on the shelves anyways. It'll leave room for games that actually deserve people's money.

What has happened Capcom. I tought your partnership with eastern developers were the way of the future. Take DmC. You got a whole 2 extra point in Metacritic score for your efforts. I doubt you will get your platinum title though. Not in a million years.

Man... *sigh* the industry is in such a mess right now...I mean, shit. Japan especially, I love Japan, I always have, you been there? You gotta go there, it's amazingly weird and weirdly amazing. But their society is the epitome of stability, which has been a bit of a problem lately. I don't mean to imply that japanese people are all robots, but their work ethics and closer to "live to work" than our "work to live" and as opposed to our western individualist mentality, they've historically favoured a group mentality more.For the longest time, that meant that the dev teams and publishers just made whatever they wanted, because what the producer wanted to produce and what the consumer wanted to consume were always aligned, and as a result the auteur developer flourished.But, in the last ten years or so, that stability has started to erode. Maybe due to foreign influence, games are reaching a more international audience now, we've been playing their games, they've been playing ours, and that outside influence has widened the consumer's pallet.Now, for the first time, Japanese publishers are having to really analyse what the consumer wants, now unable to just trust that what they want to make is what the consumer wants them to make.Problem is... they're really not that good at market research, as you'd expect since it was never really an issue for them.They are trying, Nintendo understand that it's hard to keep our attention, so they have to do stupid shit so we don't wonder off, and square enix is mixing up... well, what they think is mixing up their final fantasy formula, throwing everything an think of at the problem trying to find something that sticks.We gotta have faith that they work it out before it's too late, but for the moment, that's their problem over in Japan, it took them too long to realise that the consumers have preferences now.

Such a shame because they finally got it right with western devs by making DmC. I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but I genuinely enjoyed the game. Ninja Theory is a talented developer and it really showed in it, bringing so much originality to the series. I was finally having fun with a Devil May Cry game. It's just saddening that customers in the gaming industry have such a knee-jerk reaction and refuse to get something just because of a different take on the formula.

I know people are justified to not want to get something because of face-value, but goddamn there were good things in that game.

I would be so sad if we didn't get any of the new Phoenix Wright games coming out. Already had to give up on AA2 and I'm keeping my hope low for Layton X Wright but come on Capcom, let us have Phoenix Wright 5 at least. T_T

I'm trying to think of one Capcom game I ever bought and nothing at all comes to mind. They could cut out their games to the west completely and I doubt I would notice. Though "Devil May Cry" does stand out in my mind as one of the lamest titles for a video game I ever heard, so that's notable.

Capcom, you've been a developer for a very long time. I want you to think back before video games got popular, remember those days? Remember when games were for a niche audience and didn't require millions? That's what you should focus on. If trying to keep up with the west was putting you in the poorhouse by trying to keep up with the AAA cost, then please step out of it. Your games don't need to cost a lot of capital to be good quality.

Good riddance. For a long time now Capcom has been releasing many of the games I wanted to buy in Japan only or canned the ones I was waiting for (Rockman anyone...?). I enjoyed DmC quite a bit, but that's it as far as I'm concerned.

Capcom won't give me more Rockman, they won't release A.A. games here and we probably won't see the A.A crossover game either.

Capcom can go fuck itself and die with the rest of the game industry. Maybe a few years later,out of the ashes, we'll get better devs and publishers. That, and this whole debacle makes me want to pick up coding and make games myself. Btw: anyone could PM some good starter material/sources on game making?

1nfinite_Cros5:Such a shame because they finally got it right with western devs by making DmC. I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but I genuinely enjoyed the game. Ninja Theory is a talented developer and it really showed in it, bringing so much originality to the series. I was finally having fun with a Devil May Cry game. It's just saddening that customers in the gaming industry have such a knee-jerk reaction and refuse to get something just because of a different take on the formula.

I know people are justified to not want to get something because of face-value, but goddamn there were good things in that game.

*sigh*

It's good to like things. If you have fun with it, then have fun. You have to look at the source if someone gives you flak. Random Internet Stranger is always a poor source. That being said, there are plenty of reasons not to have bought the game. Hopefully they had inflated expectations, did make a profit and will greenlight another.OT Fuck 'em (UNLESS THEY BRING THAT NEW MONSTER HUNTER MMO HERE.) One of my favorite things in fighting games was to unlock new outfits and accessories for the fighters. For some reason, it's not as satisfying to have to purchase them. More DLC than you currently do? That's a great plan, Capcom, good luck with it.

My word I finally get an excuse to post this picture! :DOT: Seriously I wonder why Capcom's sales are so low. Oh wait, maybe it's because you've managed to basically piss off your entire fan base with the recent stunts you pulled. I'm still pissed about Legends 3! >.<

Well, this is kind of a double edged sword. First, why are their expectations so high when they constantly change the format of their sequels. They should be reasonable expectations and they should figure out how to spend money more efficiently. This could mean switching to internal where they actually have the ability to control the cost... not that it will definitely change anything because most companies in the Triple A market are just fuckin' stupid when it comes to spending money. That said, Capcom definitely released better games when they weren't outsourcing to western developers. And a switch to more DLC could mean less "super mega ultra" editions of games and more games that you can buy more for later on rather than rebuying a game to get the extra content (ala the new Dragon's Dogma game). Though canceling projects they don't have high expectations for... well that's a bit of a mixed bag. It could mean more remakes... or more new properties as they can't possibly have exceedingly high expectation for new properties.

EDIT: I feel this needs to be mentioned, I'm so fuckin' pissed about Dark Arisen being a whole new game. I purchased DLC for the first release and all of that is out the window I'm sure... what useless assholes.